zwroo a a freed woman. enough is enough. president obama calls lawmakers to the white house to talk about the debt ceiling but will they all play nice. and run for your life. the daring take to the streets for the running of the bulls. very good morning do you. i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. now we begin this morning with decision day. casey anthony will learn her fate in a florida courtroom this morning when she's sentenced for

lying to investigators, the only charges she was found guilty of in the murder trial of her daughter caylee. nbc's kristen dahlgren is live in florida for thus morning. kristen, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, veronica. yeah, casey anthony could be waking up in jail for the last time this morning. huge crowds are expected out here this morning at the orange county courthouse as the judge decides how much longer she should spend behind bars. each count for lying to investigators carries a one-year sentence but almost three years after she was first arrested judge belvin perry could sentence her to time served. a far cry from the death penalty she could have faced if convicted for murdering her 2-year-old daughter caylee. in an exclusive interview with abc news juror number 3, jen for ford said they just didn't have enough proof it was murder.

>> it doesn't feel good. it was a horrible decision to have to make but we had to do it based on the law. >> reporter: casey's parents were seen leaving with a police escort after receiving dealt threats. the woman with the same name as the fictional nanny casey claimed kidnapped her daughter. >> as soon as i heard the verdict, my reaction was game on. >> reporter: with as she learns when she'll go free her legal troubles may not be over while in the court of public opinion she is so far not finding much sympathy. >> reporter: that sentencing is set for 9:00 a.m. this morning. whenever casey anthony is released, the jail says it has a security plan in place. >> thank you. in washington, the president doesn't appear to be backing down on his demand for some tax

hikes even as republicans show signs of softening their stance ahead of bipartisan talks at the white house. nbc's brian mooar has the latest from washington. brian, good morning. >> good morning, veronica. president obama unusually blunt. he said raising the debt ceiling should not be a gun held to the heads of the american people. going into today's meeting, each side had firm plans but the pathway to compromise seems to be holding up. they seem to be softening on what has been a key sticking point, and that is killing some tax loopholes to raise money. eric cantor who caulked out of the last round of talks now said he will be willing to talk about killing those tax loopholes in terms of a bigger compromise. congress has just a couple of weeks to raise uncle sam's debt ceiling or risk maxing out her national credit card. president obama and house speaker john bane ler be two

voices in the room but two very important ones. will have to sell any deal to their party and convince skeptics that this is a fair one. veronica? >> brian mooar in washington, thanks. tragedy struck at yellowstone national park when a man hiking with his wife was mauled to death by a grizzly. the grizzly was apparently trying to defend her pubs. the park ranger picked her up by her backpack before dropping her on the ground. a group of hikers nearby heard the woman's call for help and used a cellphone to call 911. here's your first look at some of the other news going on around america today as well. police now in san francisco hoping a snapshot of an unidentified man will shed some light only a brazen art heist. they believe this is a man who walked in gallery and sold this

art wachovia at broad day laift valued at over $200,000. a bear was spotted in traffic on a virginia highway. it was trapped a few lanes away and shot with a tranquilizer gun. it could be released into the wild. in quebec, canada, one lobster was captured looking as if it had already been cooked. look at that. most are green or brown. this rare lobster was pulled from the ocean bright orange. because only one in ten million are believed to be this color it was given a stay of execution and donated to an aquarium. finally in north carolina minor league right fielder made a big-time play tuesday. he stole a show robbing one player of a run by making a miraculous catch just by taking a nasty tumble over the wall. oh, that didn't hurt.

the player didn't suffer any injuries on the play, however. now for a look at the national weather we turn to nbc's meteorologist bill karins. i don't know. it looks like it hit. >> a wall that's three feet high. it's only baseball. good morning to you, veronica. good morning to everyone else. as far as what we're dealing with out there, we're going to continue to watch the heat. there's a big story in texas where once again it was in the 100s. we had downpours in the mid-atlantic and in the northern area. it is high. these are the temperatures to start your morning. le dlarks 82 when you walk out the door. and you'll want the ac instantly if you're traveling in the big cities from boston all the way down to d.c. it was very sticky overnight. temperatures are in the 70s. florida in the 80s. wet weather wise, the only travel trouble this morning for rain or thunderstorms is here

especially in kansas. i know kansas city, you're dry now, but we've got rain heading your way. tampa, we're dry by i-95 all the way to georgia and maine. it will be later today we'll have to deal with some of the storms. here's a look at the radar in kansas. you've got about a hundred miles here. in wichita, the rain is beginning to topi ta. and in wichita it looks like scattered showers also starting. give it another hour or two and the rain looks like it's going to head your way. it shouldn't be thunderstorms. light cool rain. actually refreshing earlier today. here's your forecast. i had to put a disclaimer on the top of my weather map. if you look at the icon it looks a lot worse than it is, these are the typical afternoon thunderstorms. they're going to be isolated. not everyone's going to get hit. in philly and new york and d.c., all areas down in florida, again, we showed you that rain

for kansas city later today you'll have a chance for another storm or two. oklahoma and also texas and as we go into friday, more or less the same thing but i think the concentration is greater here in the mid-atlantic. also florida, we're watching the forecast closely, very on kachlt it does not look great for "atlantis's" launch. only a 70% chance that it doesn't lift off. so it could get delayed to the weekend. bill, you're supposed to bring sunshine, not all that rain. tracking on wall street, stock scenes on scandal and a company accused of not paying pc wages. your first look at business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, gator aide, shaving cream pies, and a swing and a miss. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] now, give dry, damaged hair a whole new life!

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welcome back to "first look"

and here are some of the top stories making news. a federal court has ordered an mediimmediate appeal on the ban openly gay serving in the military. the rule merely hayesens plans to formally scrap the policy by the end of this month. in california, authorities say three former pta mothers recruited investors in a $14 million ponzi scheme. two have been arrested. one was already in jail. it's believed they spent some of the money on lavish vacations, new car, and gambling. prince william and wife catherine took a detour on their trip to canada to visit a town recently damaged by a wildfire. they spoke with rescue workers and displaced residents. and it is that time of year in span, the run for your life. this year's running of the bulls got under way this morning. in today's run, at least two people suffered minor injuries.

now here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,626 after gaining 56 points. the s&p nudged up 1. the nasdaq rose 8. taking a look at overseas trading this morning the nikkei fell 11 but in hong kong the hang seng added 12. whether it was true market confidence or just light summer trading, investors shrugged off bad news wednesday and wall street managed slight gains across the board. on the data front business growth in the service sector slowed in june. on the plus saturday, june marked the 19th consecutive month in growth of service companies which employ the majority of americans. major banks fell sharply on fears of exposure of possible bond defaults involving portugal. bank of america fell almost 2.5%. trucker conway was up almost 6% to an all-time closing high after restoring some of employee benefits due to the economy

imbrooving. software maker compuware rose 5% after buying dynatrace. news corp, owner of news of the world, tab blount of an english scandal with picking up families on phones was down after ads and protests. the scandal could also short circuit the takeover of a huge profitable tv firm. album sales rose for the first time in the year and today watch for weekly jobless claims and june's private employment report. finally starbucks may be a corporate leader but employees at outlets in chile plan to walk out because they say wages are so low they can't afford lunch. albert returns, jeter counts down and a crusher in women's soccer. plus, try as you might to

avoid a sell ba torrey face blaint, mike stanton eats it. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ ♪ ♪ look at that car, well, it goes fast ♪ ♪ givin' my dad a heart attack ♪ [ friend ] that is so awesome. ♪ i love my car [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] that first chevy, yea, it gets under your skin. ♪ it gets under your skin. male announcer: be kind to your eyes with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see a whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. female announcer: thanks to the eyeglass guide, it's never been easier to find the right pair of eyeglasses.

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albert pujols recovered from a broken arm in two weeks, a month ahead of his astonishing schedule. if he can do it, you can do it. keep in mind he makes $14.5 million a year than can make anyone feel great. there he is back in the lineup. made an immediate impact against the reds. they got within one in the ninth. however, they couldn't get over the hutch. they doubled the go-ahead run and the reds go on to win it, 9-8. another gain, another hit for jaric dieter. below the right spot for the yanks. they lost five to tndians. jeter needs three more hits for 3,000 as the yanks head back to new york. >> they were finally awarded the 2018 olympics. they become the first asian city outside of japan to hold the world games. world cup, rough day. that's a penalty kick, and you're not going to miss too many of those.

minutes later off a free kick it deflected off and ran into the net. they lost it, 2-1. they'll play brazil on sunday. when it goes on, loser goes home. mike stanton is forecasted to be a future star maybe because of his quickness. in florida where he committed his first walk-off homer against the phils. here comes the gatorade. nice move. we move together with a shaving cream swing and a miss. he can't be that quick, can he? hee finally said let me have it. mike stanton did his best, but in tend he still got creeping. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. and now for another quick look at the weather here's nbc's bill karins with another check of the forecast. they got him pretty good, i have to say. >> whipped cream is already. shaving cream -- >> is that what that was? >> most likely. i don't know of whipped cream

that baseball players have in their lockers. good morning, everyone. yesterday, hottest day in the eevgt philadelphia. 93 degrees. boston at 92 yesterday. so it was a steamy day and today's going to be similar. it's still kind of humid out there. you'll feel it this morning. temperatures are very warm in the big city. we didn't cool off much at all last night. you start off in the mid-70s. it's pretty easy to get up to 90 degrees. we will be watching a few afternoon thunderstorms. not a lot, just isolated thunderstorms will be a problem, especially it looks like south of new york city down by philadelphia, maybe baltimore and d.c. will have a scattered storm or two. notice it's going to be cooler. boston at 81, albany at 83. providence, somewhere in the low to mid-80s. that's where cooler air has moved in. you're going to stay hot and steamy in many areas of the mid-atlantic and it's going to be worse on friday. a wet day, soggier cloudier day with downpour.

that includes southern new england right through areas of new jersey to philadelphia to . d.c. if you have friday plans, it looks a little worse than what we're going to see today. it should clear out nicely for everyone in the big cities, 95. today's thunderstorms, a bit scattered about, veronica, throughout many areas of the country. >> we'll talk again when you've got sunshine in your forecast. one star names her baby, and reports of ex-super couple has reunited. plus kim kardashian proves the old public relations warning, never make a statement that can be taken out of context. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on m msnbc. [ male announcer ] if you think "heroes" are only in movies, consider this: over 70% of firefighters are local volunteers... these are our neighbors putting their lives

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. it's not just the end of an era for the familiar faces we've seen over the years but also the final countdown. in just seconds you'll recognize this story. we have the story behind the voice of nasa's countdown launch. >> i was here if the first and i'll be here for the last one. >> reporter: george is just as much of the shuttle program as the countdown clock. >> this clock has been declared a historical artifact. >> reporter: unlike the clock you won't recognize his face, but that's just some flashing lights until george takes over. >> four, three, two, one, zero. >> before that, i had actually been a reporter, radio reporter from the tampa bay area, covered

the space program over here for about five years and really fell in love with nasa and the space program. >> reporter: he opened up for diller in 1978. it was ten years late their he did his first-ever show play by play. >> it was a lot of concentration. you don't have enough time to be nervous about it. at 6.6 engines the main engines ignite. >> he said they can still bail until t-0. >> when the boosters ignite, you're definitely leaving. >> reporter: george diller's top three favorite nasa moments. number three. >> hubbell. >> reporter: two. >> very close second would be two planstair flights i had direct involvement with in getting ready to fly which was galileo to jupiter and magellan to venus. >> reporter: number one. >> i'll never forget the first commentary.

sts 27 which was "atlantis" and here's the last which will be a good high light. >> reporter: every good high light will be the perfect call. >> everyone wants to know what your lift-off call is. >> lift jaufl, final call, d "endeavour," expanding our knowledge, expanding our space. time now for your "first look" at entertainment news. the strangest entry for baby hollywood names. take a listen to this. people's magazine is reporting that natalie port mann and husband have named their son aleph. it's the first letter of the hebrew alphabet and also means number one. "us weekly" reports that recently split jessica biel and timberlake have rekindled their roman romance.

they've decided to give their relationship another shot. this one makes sense. tmz reporting that charly sheen's new movie will be focused on "anger management." he'll be playing the jack nicholson character. >> always feeling like she's on display, the jokes are already flying over kim kardashian's lead quote of the cosmo toll on the lead story. sometimes feel like a zoo animal. >> which animal? i mean what does she mean by that? >> that's where your mind starts spinning a little into dangerous territory. >> aleph as a new baby name? >> good luck finding name on a souvenir key chain. i went straight to the billy key chains. >> we should start calling your billy karins. wouldn't have recommend it but you could. >> i'm veronica de la cruz.

this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because "way too early" starts right now. president obama meets at the white house with congressional leaders. the president lo propose significant cuts to medicare and social security. the question is will the gop back off its pledge to keach taxes off the table, in return reaching a deal that could save the american kmm over the long term. >> we'll see. meanwhile the constant effort to keep up with the twisted mind of terrorists now expanded to include surgically implanted bombs carried onto planes. the question is how real is the threat of a fake boob? they say it's pretty road. facebook teams up with skype. the question is what is the wingle voss cut of the new one. they'd better